Method and device for generating predicted pictures

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are a method and device for generating a predicted picture, the method comprising: determining a reference rectangular block of pixels by shifting or warping parameter information which includes a location of a target rectangular block of pixels, or the parameter information comprises a location of a target rectangular block of pixels and depth information of a reference view; mapping the reference rectangular block of pixels to a target view according to the depth information of the reference view to obtain a projection rectangular block of pixels; and acquiring a predicted picture block from the projection rectangular block of pixels. The technical problem of relatively large dependence among the data brought by simultaneously employing the depth picture of the target view and the depth picture of the reference view in the process of generating the predicted picture in the prior art is solved, and the technical effects of reducing the dependence on the data and improving the encoding and decoding efficiency is achieved.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/441,445 filed on May 7, 2015 under 37 USC 371 as the U.S. nationalstage of International Patent Application Number PCT/CN2013/083084 filedon Sep. 6, 2013 claiming priority to Chinese Patent Application Number201210376819.9 filed on Sep. 29, 2012, all of which said applicationsare herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and inparticular to a method and device for generating a predicted picture.

BACKGROUND

Picture prediction refers to the case where, by means of informationsuch as motion vectors and reference frame indexes, a part of a pictureis copied directly or acquired by means of methods such as sub-pixelinterpolation from the picture which has been encoded/decoded to serveas a predicted picture of the current encoded/decoded picture block inthe video encoding/decoding process. At an encoding end, a pictureresidual can be obtained by subtracting the predicted picture and theoriginal picture and the picture residual is encoded and written into acode stream; and at a decoding end, a reconstructed picture can beobtained by adding the predicted picture and the picture residualobtained through decoding from the code stream. Encoding/decodingperformed in this way of predicting a picture can effectively improvethe efficiency of encoding/decoding.

At present, a common method for generating a predicted picture is amethod in which a forward projection is used, i.e. it means that depthinformation of each pixel or each block of pixels in a reference view isutilized to project a picture of the reference view to a target view soas to obtain a picture of the target view. Currently, a commonblock-based forward projection is generally implemented in the followingway:

In order to generate one target block of pixels Bt in the target view,the size and location of a reference block of pixels Br for generatingBt in the reference view are determined by the size and location of Btand a depth value corresponding to each pixel in Bt, that is, thereference block of pixels needs to be determined by means of depthinformation of the target view in the method.

In the above-mentioned method, a set of new boundary values are obtainedby subtracting Dmax from the left boundary of Bt, subtracting Dmin fromthe right boundary of Bt, and keeping the upper and lower boundariesunchanged, where Dmax and Dmin are respectively the statistical maximumvalue and minimum value of disparity values derived by converting thedepth values corresponding to the pixels in Bt. The new boundary valuesare set as Br boundary values. The Br is projected to the target view,and pixels in Bt without projected ones from Br are filled to obtain thefinal projected Bt. Bt is taken as a predicted picture. Depthinformation of the reference view is employed in the process ofprojection to generate a desired predicted picture.

The above-mentioned hole filling means that holes will appear after avirtual view projection is performed on places with depth changes, suchas boundary regions of objects in the picture. After the picture of theprojected view is projected to the target view, a single point orsuccessive point section in the target view without projected pixelsfrom the reference view is called a hole. The appearance of holes isrelated to the sampling rate of depth and texture, as well as theoccultation relationship among objects in a three-dimensional scene.Scenes located behind objects cannot be acquired by a camera, and thusthe scene originally located behind the objects cannot be constructedusing projection. When holes appear, hole filling techniques need to beused to fill the holes in the projected picture so as to make itcomplete. The hole filling method is generally to fill the entire emptyhole with a pixel value of two projected pixels belonging to abackground region at two sides of the empty hole (based on arelationship between a relative foreground and background of the twopixels). If only one side of the hole has a projected pixel (whichgenerally appears on the picture boundaries), this projected pixel isused to fill the entire hole. The above-mentioned method is only one ofthe empty hole filling techniques, and many other methods can also beused for implementation.

It can be seen from the above-mentioned description that, in the priorart, when performing forward projection, depth information of areference view is used to determine the reference block of pixels, anddepth information of a target view is used for projection. Therefore,the depth information of the target view and the depth information ofthe reference view need to be used simultaneously in the predictedpicture generation process, which brings relative large dependence amongdata.

Aiming at the above-mentioned problem, no effective solution has beenpresented.

SUMMARY

The embodiments of the present invention provide a method and device forgenerating a predicted picture, so as to at least solve the technicalproblem of relatively large dependence among data brought bysimultaneously employing depth information of a target view and depthinformation of a reference view in the process of generating thepredicted picture in the prior art.

According to one aspect of the present invention, provided is a methodfor generating a predicted picture, comprising: determining a referencerectangular block of pixels by shifting or warping parameterinformation, wherein the above-mentioned parameter information comprisesa location of a target rectangular block of pixels, or the parameterinformation comprises a location of a target rectangular block of pixelsand depth information of a reference view; mapping the above-mentionedreference rectangular block of pixels to a target view by means of thedepth information of the above-mentioned reference view to obtain aprojected rectangular block of pixels; and acquiring a predicted pictureblock from the above-mentioned projected rectangular block of pixels.

Alternatively, the depth information of the above-mentioned referenceview comprises at least one of the following: depth pictures of theabove-mentioned reference view and camera parameters of theabove-mentioned reference view.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixelscan be projected to the target view using a forward projection.

Alternatively, when the above-mentioned parameter information comprisesthe location of the target rectangular block of pixels, determining thereference rectangular block of pixels by shifting or warping theparameter information comprises: taking a value which is obtained aftersubtracting a first predetermined offset value from a left boundaryvalue of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as aleft boundary value of the above-mentioned reference rectangular blockof pixels; taking a value which is obtained after subtracting a secondpredetermined offset value from a right boundary value of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as a right boundaryvalue of the above-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels;taking an upper boundary value of the above-mentioned target rectangularblock of pixels as an upper boundary value of the above-mentionedreference rectangular block of pixels; taking a lower boundary value ofthe above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as a lowerboundary value of the above-mentioned reference rectangular block ofpixels; and taking the determined left boundary value, right boundaryvalue, upper boundary value and lower boundary value of the referencerectangular block of pixels as boundary information of theabove-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels, so as todetermine the above-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels inthe reference view.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned first predetermined offset value andthe above-mentioned second predetermined offset value are respectivelyone preset numerical value that is not 0.

Alternatively, when the above-mentioned parameter information comprisesthe location of the target rectangular block of pixels and the depthinformation of the reference view, determining the reference rectangularblock of pixels by shifting or warping the parameter informationcomprises: determining a first set of boundary values of theabove-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels according to thelocation of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels;updating the above-mentioned first set of boundary values according tothe depth information of the above-mentioned reference view, and takingresults obtained after the update as a second set of boundary values ofthe above-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels, wherein thearea of the reference rectangular block of pixels corresponding to theabove-mentioned second set of boundary values is smaller than the areaof the reference rectangular block of pixels corresponding to theabove-mentioned first set of boundary values; and determining theabove-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels in the referenceview according to the above-mentioned second set of boundary values.

Alternatively, determining a first set of boundary values of theabove-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels according to thelocation of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixelscomprises: taking a value which is obtained after subtracting a thirdpredetermined offset value from the left boundary value of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as a left boundaryvalue in the above-mentioned first set of boundary values of theabove-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels; taking a valuewhich is obtained after subtracting a fourth predetermined offset valuefrom the right boundary value of the above-mentioned target rectangularblock of pixels as a right boundary value in the above-mentioned firstset of boundary values of the above-mentioned reference rectangularblock of pixels; taking the upper boundary value of the above-mentionedtarget rectangular block of pixels as an upper boundary value of theabove-mentioned first set of boundary values; and taking the lowerboundary value of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixelsas a lower boundary value of the above-mentioned first set of boundaryvalues.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned third predetermined offset value andthe above-mentioned fourth predetermined offset value are respectivelyone preset numerical value that is not 0.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned third predetermined offset valuecomprises a maximum disparity value between the above-mentionedreference view and the above-mentioned target view; and theabove-mentioned fourth predetermined offset value comprises a minimumdisparity value between the above-mentioned reference view and theabove-mentioned target view.

Alternatively, updating the above-mentioned first set of boundary valuesaccording to the depth information of the above-mentioned reference viewcomprises: determining one or more boundary range values according tolocation information of one or more pixels on boundaries of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels and the depthinformation of the above-mentioned reference view, wherein theabove-mentioned boundary range values comprise left boundary rangevalues and/or right boundary range values; and updating theabove-mentioned first set of boundary values according to the determinedone or more boundary range values.

Alternatively, updating the above-mentioned first set of boundary valuesaccording to the determined one or more boundary range values comprises:selecting one from the one or more left boundary range values as theleft boundary value in the above-mentioned first set of boundary values,wherein the above-mentioned left boundary range value is a boundaryrange value corresponding to pixels on a left boundary of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels; and/or selecting onefrom the one or more right boundary range values as the right boundaryvalue in the above-mentioned first set of boundary values, wherein theabove-mentioned right boundary range value is a boundary range valuecorresponding to pixels on a right boundary of the above-mentionedtarget rectangular block of pixels.

Alternatively, the steps of determining one or more left boundary rangevalues according to the location information of one or more pixels onthe boundaries of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixelsand the depth information of the above-mentioned reference viewcomprise: selecting one pixel on the left boundary of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as a first pixel;taking the left boundary value in the above-mentioned first set ofboundary values as the left boundary range value corresponding to thefirst pixel; taking a first coordinate obtained after offsetting thecoordinate of the above-mentioned first pixel by one default disparityas a second coordinate in the above-mentioned reference view;determining a first projection coordinate of a pixel corresponding tothe above-mentioned second coordinate in the above-mentioned target viewaccording to depth information of a pixel corresponding to theabove-mentioned second coordinate in the above-mentioned reference view;and when a horizontal component of the above-mentioned first projectioncoordinate is less than or equal to the left boundary value in theabove-mentioned first set of boundary values, updating the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the above-mentioned first pixel to be ahorizontal component of the above-mentioned second coordinate; and/ordetermining one or more right boundary range values according to thelocation information of one or more pixels on the boundaries of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels and the depthinformation of the above-mentioned reference view comprises: selectingone pixel on the right boundary of the above-mentioned targetrectangular block of pixels as a second pixel; taking the right boundaryvalue in the above-mentioned first set of boundary values as the rightboundary range value corresponding to the above-mentioned second pixel;taking a third coordinate obtained after offsetting the coordinate ofthe above-mentioned second pixel by one default disparity as a fourthcoordinate in the above-mentioned reference view; determining a secondprojection coordinate of a pixel corresponding to the above-mentionedfourth coordinate in the above-mentioned target view according to depthinformation of a pixel corresponding to the above-mentioned fourthcoordinate in the above-mentioned reference view; and when a horizontalcomponent of the above-mentioned second projection coordinate is greaterthan or equal to the right boundary value in the above-mentioned firstset of boundary values, updating the right boundary range valuecorresponding to the above-mentioned second pixel to be a horizontalcomponent of the above-mentioned fourth coordinate.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned default disparity is a disparityvalue corresponding to one depth value between the above-mentionedreference view and the above-mentioned target view.

Alternatively, when it is judged that the condition that the horizontalcomponent of the above-mentioned first projection coordinate is lessthan or equal to the left boundary value in the above-mentioned firstset of boundary values is not satisfied, or after the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the above-mentioned first pixel is updatedto be the horizontal component of the above-mentioned second coordinate,the above-mentioned method further comprises: updating the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the above-mentioned first pixel; when it isjudged that the condition that the horizontal component of theabove-mentioned second projection coordinate is greater than or equal tothe right boundary value in the above-mentioned first set of boundaryvalues is not satisfied, or after the right boundary range valuecorresponding to the above-mentioned second pixel is updated to be thehorizontal component of the above-mentioned fourth coordinate, theabove-mentioned method further comprises: updating the right boundaryrange value corresponding to the above-mentioned second pixel.

Alternatively, updating the left boundary range value corresponding tothe above-mentioned first pixel comprises: updating the above-mentionedsecond coordinate to be a coordinate obtained after offsetting thecurrent second coordinate by a fifth predetermined offset value;determining a third projection coordinate of the pixel corresponding tothe above-mentioned current second coordinate in the above-mentionedtarget view according to the depth information of the pixelcorresponding to the above-mentioned current second coordinate in theabove-mentioned reference view; and when a horizontal component of theabove-mentioned third projection coordinate is less than or equal to theleft boundary value in the above-mentioned first set of boundary values,and the horizontal component of the above-mentioned current secondcoordinate is greater than the left boundary range value correspondingto the above-mentioned current first pixel, updating the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the above-mentioned first pixel to be thehorizontal component of the above-mentioned current second coordinate;and/or updating the right boundary range value corresponding to theabove-mentioned second pixel comprises: updating the above-mentionedfourth coordinate to be a coordinate obtained after offsetting theabove-mentioned current fourth coordinate by a sixth predeterminedoffset value; determining a fourth projection coordinate of the pixelcorresponding to the above-mentioned current fourth coordinate in theabove-mentioned target view according to the depth information of thepixel corresponding to the above-mentioned current fourth coordinate inthe above-mentioned reference view; and when a horizontal component ofthe above-mentioned fourth projection coordinate is greater than orequal to the right boundary value in the above-mentioned first set ofboundary values, and the horizontal component of the above-mentionedcurrent fourth coordinate is greater than the right boundary range valuecorresponding to the above-mentioned second pixel, updating the rightboundary range value corresponding to the above-mentioned second pixelto be the horizontal component of the above-mentioned current fourthcoordinate.

Alternatively, the step of updating the left boundary range valuecorresponding to the above-mentioned first pixel is repeatedly executeda predetermined number of times, and/or the step of updating the leftboundary range value corresponding to the above-mentioned second pixelis repeatedly executed a predetermined number of times.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned fifth predetermined offset value isdetermined by a difference value between the horizontal component of thecoordinate of the above-mentioned first pixel and the horizontalcomponent of the projection coordinate of the pixel corresponding to theabove-mentioned second coordinate in the above-mentioned target view,and/or the above-mentioned sixth predetermined offset value isdetermined by a difference value between the horizontal component of thecoordinate of the above-mentioned second pixel and the horizontalcomponent of the projection coordinate of the pixel corresponding to theabove-mentioned second coordinate in the above-mentioned target view.

Alternatively, determining a plurality of left boundary range valuesaccording to the location information of one or more pixels on theboundaries of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels andthe depth information of the above-mentioned reference view comprises:determining, in a parallel mode, the plurality of left boundary rangevalues according to the location information of the one or more pixelson the boundaries of the above-mentioned target rectangular block ofpixels and the depth information of the above-mentioned reference view;and/or determining a plurality of right boundary range values accordingto the location information of one or more pixels on the boundaries ofthe above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels and the depthinformation of the above-mentioned reference view comprises:determining, in a parallel mode, the plurality of right boundary rangevalues according to the location information of the one or more pixelson the boundaries of the above-mentioned target rectangular block ofpixels and the depth information of the above-mentioned reference view.

Alternatively, updating the above-mentioned first set of boundary valuesaccording to the determined one or more boundary range values comprises:updating the left boundary value in the above-mentioned first set ofboundary values to be a maximum value or a minimum value or a medianvalue in the above-mentioned one or more left boundary range values;and/or updating the right boundary value in the above-mentioned firstset of boundary values to be a maximum value or a minimum value or amedian value in the above-mentioned one or more right boundary rangevalues.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned method is applied to the 3D pictureencoding and decoding techniques.

According to one aspect of the present invention, provided is a devicefor generating a predicted picture, comprising: a reference rectangularblock of pixels determination module configured to determine a referencerectangular block of pixels by shifting or warping parameterinformation, wherein the above-mentioned parameter information comprisesa location of a target rectangular block of pixels, or the parameterinformation comprises a location of a target rectangular block of pixelsand depth information of a reference view; a mapping module configuredto map the above-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels to atarget view by means of the depth information of the above-mentionedreference view to obtain a projected rectangular block of pixels; and apredicted picture acquisition module configured to acquire a predictedpicture block from the above-mentioned projected rectangular block ofpixels.

Alternatively, the depth information of the above-mentioned referenceview comprises at least one of the following: depth information of theabove-mentioned reference view and camera parameters of theabove-mentioned reference view.

Alternatively, a projection module can project the above-mentionedreference rectangular block of pixels to the target view using a forwardprojection.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixelsdetermination module comprises: a first determination unit, configuredto determine a first set of boundary values of the reference rectangularblock of pixels according to the location of the target rectangularblock of pixels when the above-mentioned parameter information comprisesthe location of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixelsand the depth information of the above-mentioned reference view; anupdate unit, configured to update the above-mentioned first set ofboundary values according to the depth information of theabove-mentioned reference view, and take results obtained after theupdate as a second set of boundary values of the above-mentionedreference rectangular block of pixels, wherein the area of the referencerectangular block of pixels corresponding to the above-mentioned secondset of boundary values is smaller than the area of the referencerectangular block of pixels corresponding to the above-mentioned firstset of boundary values; and a second determination unit configured todetermine the above-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels inthe reference view according to the above-mentioned second set ofboundary values.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned first determination unit comprises: aleft boundary value determination sub-unit configured to take a valuewhich is obtained after subtracting a third predetermined offset valuefrom the left boundary value of the above-mentioned target rectangularblock of pixels as a left boundary value in the above-mentioned firstset of boundary values of the above-mentioned reference rectangularblock of pixels; a right boundary value determination sub-unitconfigured to take a value which is obtained after subtracting a fourthpredetermined offset value from the right boundary value of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as a right boundaryvalue in the above-mentioned first set of boundary values of theabove-mentioned reference rectangular block of pixels; an upper boundaryvalue determination sub-unit configured to take the upper boundary valueof the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as an upperboundary value of the above-mentioned first set of boundary values; anda lower boundary value determination sub-unit configured to take thelower boundary value of the above-mentioned target rectangular block ofpixels as a lower boundary value of the above-mentioned first set ofboundary values.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned update unit comprises: a boundaryrange value determination sub-unit configured to determine one or moreboundary range values according to location information of one or morepixels on boundaries of the above-mentioned target rectangular block ofpixels and the depth information of the above-mentioned reference view,wherein the above-mentioned boundary range values comprise left boundaryrange values and/or right boundary range values; and an update sub-unitconfigured to update the above-mentioned first set of boundary valuesaccording to the determined one or more boundary range values.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned boundary range value determinationsub-unit is further configured to determine one or more left boundaryrange values in the following way: selecting one pixel on the leftboundary of the above-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as afirst pixel; taking the left boundary value in the above-mentioned firstset of boundary values as the left boundary range value corresponding tothe first pixel; taking a first coordinate obtained after offsetting thecoordinate of the above-mentioned first pixel by one default disparityas a second coordinate in the above-mentioned reference view;determining a first projection coordinate of a pixel corresponding tothe above-mentioned second coordinate in the above-mentioned target viewaccording to depth information of a pixel corresponding to theabove-mentioned second coordinate in the above-mentioned reference view;and when a horizontal component of the above-mentioned first projectioncoordinate is less than or equal to the left boundary value in theabove-mentioned first set of boundary values, updating the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the above-mentioned first pixel to be ahorizontal component of the above-mentioned second coordinate; and/orthe above-mentioned boundary range value determination sub-unit isfurther configured to determine one or more right boundary range valuesin the following way: selecting one pixel on the right boundary of theabove-mentioned target rectangular block of pixels as a second pixel;taking the right boundary value in the above-mentioned first set ofboundary values as the right boundary range value corresponding to theabove-mentioned second pixel; taking a third coordinate obtained afteroffsetting the coordinate of the above-mentioned second pixel by onedefault disparity as a fourth coordinate in the above-mentionedreference view; determining a second projection coordinate of a pixelcorresponding to the above-mentioned fourth coordinate in theabove-mentioned target view according to depth information of a pixelcorresponding to the above-mentioned fourth coordinate in theabove-mentioned reference view; and when a horizontal component of theabove-mentioned second projection coordinate is greater than or equal tothe right boundary value in the above-mentioned first set of boundaryvalues, updating the right boundary range value corresponding to theabove-mentioned second pixel to be a horizontal component of theabove-mentioned fourth coordinate.

In the embodiments of the present invention, provided is a new methodfor generating a predicted picture. When a reference rectangular blockof pixels is generated, only the location of a target rectangular blockof pixels and/or depth information of a reference view and/or cameraparameters of a target view need to be used, without needing todetermine the reference rectangular block of pixels by means of a depthpicture of the target view; and during forward projection, thedetermination is made by means of the depth information of the referenceview, without needing to know the depth picture of the target view inthe entire process. By means of the above-mentioned method, thetechnical problem that the dependence on data is relatively large causedby the reason that a depth picture of a target view and a depth pictureof a reference view need to be used at the same time during the processof generating the predicted picture in the prior art is solved, and thetechnical effects of reducing the dependence on data and improving theencoding and decoding efficiency are achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Drawings, provided for further understanding of the present inventionand forming a part of the specification, are used to explain the presentinvention together with embodiments of the present invention rather thanto limit the present invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an alternative flow chart of a method for generating apredicted picture according to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is another alternative flow chart of a method for generating apredicted picture according to the embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is still another alternative flow chart of a method forgenerating a predicted picture according to the embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is still another alternative flow chart of a method forgenerating a predicted picture according to the embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is an alternative structure block diagram of a device forgenerating a predicted picture according to the embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is another alternative structure block diagram of a device forgenerating a predicted picture according to the embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 7 is an alternative schematic diagram of a block-based device forgenerating a predicted picture according to the embodiments of thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is an alternative schematic diagram of a block-based device forgenerating a predicted picture according to embodiment 6 of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is an alternative schematic diagram of a Bound calculation modulein a block-based device for generating a predicted picture according toembodiment 7 of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 is an alternative schematic diagram of a block-based device forgenerating a predicted picture according to embodiment 7 of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings and embodiments in detail. Note that, theembodiments of the present invention and the features of the embodimentscan be combined with each other if there is no conflict.

In the embodiments of the present invention, provided is an alternativemethod for generating a predicted picture, and as shown in FIG. 1, themethod comprises the following steps:

step S102: determining a reference rectangular block of pixels byshifting or warping parameter information, wherein the parameterinformation comprises a location of a target rectangular block ofpixels, or the parameter information comprises a location of a targetrectangular block of pixels and depth information of a reference view;

step S104: forward projecting the reference rectangular block of pixelsto a target view by means of the depth information of the reference viewto obtain a projected rectangular block of pixels; and

step S106: acquiring a predicted picture from the projected rectangularblock of pixels.

In the above-mentioned alternative embodiment, provided is a new methodfor generating a predicted picture. When a reference rectangular blockof pixels is generated, only the location of a target rectangular blockof pixels and/or depth information of a reference view and/or cameraparameters of a target view need to be used, without needing todetermine the reference rectangular block of pixels by means of a depthpicture of the target view; and during the forward projection, thedetermination is made by means of the depth information of the referenceview, without needing to know the depth picture of the target view inthe entire process. By means of the above-mentioned method, thetechnical problem that the dependence on data is relatively large causedby the reason that a depth picture of a target view and a depth pictureof a reference view need to be used at the same time during the processof generating the predicted picture in the prior art is solved, and thetechnical effects of reducing the dependence on data and improving theencoding and decoding efficiency are achieved.

In the above-mentioned alternative embodiment, the depth information ofthe reference view may comprise, but is not limited to, at least one ofthe following: depth information of the reference view and cameraparameters of the reference view.

In the present embodiment, provided is a simple method for determining areference rectangular block of pixels. In the method, one referencerectangular block of pixels can be determined only in accordance withpredetermined offset values and boundary values of a target rectangularblock of pixels. In one alternative embodiment, when the parameterinformation comprises a location of the target rectangular block ofpixels, determining the reference rectangular block of pixels byshifting or warping the parameter information comprises the followingsteps:

step S1: taking a value, which is obtained after subtracting a firstpredetermined offset value from a left boundary value of the targetrectangular block of pixels, as a left boundary value of the referencerectangular block of pixels;

step S2: taking a value, which is obtained after subtracting a secondpredetermined offset value from a right boundary value of the targetrectangular block of pixels, as a right boundary value of the referencerectangular block of pixels;

step S3: taking an upper boundary value of the target rectangular blockof pixels as an upper boundary value of the reference rectangular blockof pixels;

step S4: taking a lower boundary value of the target rectangular blockof pixels as a lower boundary value of the reference rectangular blockof pixels; and

step S5: taking the determined left boundary value, right boundaryvalue, upper boundary value and lower boundary value of the referencerectangular block of pixels as boundary information of the referencerectangular block of pixels, so as to determine the referencerectangular block of pixels in the reference view.

The above-mentioned first predetermined offset value and secondpredetermined offset value are respectively one preset numerical valuethat is not zero, which for example can be 100, 200, 150.5, −100, −200,etc.

That is, the boundary values corresponding to the reference rectangularblock of pixels can be determined only according to the boundary valuesof the target rectangular block of pixels, and thus the implementationis simple and the encoding and decoding efficiency can be improved.

In order to make the predicted picture more accurate, a method foraccurately determine a reference rectangular block of pixels is furtherprovided in the embodiments of the present invention, in which methoddepth information of the reference view needs to be used, and as shownin FIG. 2, the specific implementation method comprises:

step S202: determining a first set of boundary values of the referencerectangular block of pixels according to a location of the targetrectangular block of pixels;

step S204: updating the first set of boundary values according to thedepth information of the reference view, and taking results obtainedafter the update as a second set of boundary values of the referencerectangular block of pixels, wherein the area of the referencerectangular block of pixels corresponding to the second set of boundaryvalues is no larger than the area of the reference rectangular block ofpixels corresponding to the first set of boundary values; and

step S206: determining the reference rectangular block of pixels in thereference view according to the second set of boundary values.

That is, the determined reference rectangular block of pixels isadjusted by means of the depth information of the reference view, sothat the determined picture through encoding/decoding is more accurate.

In this process, the above-mentioned reference rectangular block ofpixels determined in the simplest way can be used as a basis foradjustment, that is, the most basic reference rectangular block ofpixels is determined in the above-mentioned way, and boundary values ofthe most basic reference rectangular block of pixels are taken as thefirst set of boundary values.

However, at this point, the first predetermined offset value can be amaximum disparity value between the reference view and the target view;and the second predetermined offset value can be a minimum disparityvalue between the reference view and the target view.

The first set of boundary values can be adjusted by means of pixels onthe left and right boundaries of the target rectangular block of pixels.In one alternative embodiment, updating the first set of boundary valuesaccording to the depth information of the reference view comprises:determining one or more boundary range values according to locationinformation of one or more pixels on boundaries of the targetrectangular block of pixels and the depth information of the referenceview, wherein the boundary range values comprise left boundary rangevalues and/or right boundary range values; and updating the first set ofboundary values according to the determined one or more boundary rangevalues. That is, a plurality of points on the boundaries of the targetrectangular block of pixels can be selected, then one boundary rangevalue is determined for each selected point on the boundaries, andboundary range values which are used to update the first set of boundaryvalues are selected therefrom, for example, one boundary range value canbe selected from those corresponding to left boundary pixels to updatethe left boundary value in the first set of boundary values, and oneboundary range value can be selected from those corresponding to rightboundary pixels to update the right boundary value in the first set ofboundary values, so that the update of the first set of boundary valuesis achieved.

In one alternative embodiment, updating the first set of boundary valuesaccording to the determined one or more boundary range values comprises:selecting one from the one or more left boundary range values as theleft boundary value in the first set of boundary values, wherein theleft boundary range value is a boundary range value corresponding topixels on a left boundary of the target rectangular block of pixels;and/or selecting one from the one or more right boundary range values asthe right boundary value in the first set of boundary values, whereinthe right boundary range value is a boundary range value correspondingto pixels on a right boundary of the target rectangular block of pixels.

In the embodiments of the present invention, further provided is amethod of how to determine boundary range values corresponding to pixelson a boundary; illustration is given through an example of a leftboundary, as shown in FIG. 3, the step of determining one or more leftboundary range values according to location information of one or morepixels on the boundaries of a target rectangular block of pixels anddepth information of a reference view comprises:

step S302: selecting one pixel on the left boundary of the targetrectangular block of pixels as a first pixel;

step S304: taking a left boundary value in a first set of boundaryvalues as a left boundary range value corresponding to the first pixel;

step S306: taking a first coordinate obtained after offsetting thecoordinate of the first pixel by one default disparity as a secondcoordinate in the reference view;

step S308: determining a first projection coordinate of a pixelcorresponding to the second coordinate in the target view according todepth information of a pixel corresponding to the second coordinate inthe reference view; and

step S310: when a horizontal component of the first projectioncoordinate is less than or equal to the left boundary value in the firstset of boundary values, updating the left boundary range valuecorresponding to the first pixel to be a horizontal component of thesecond coordinate. The above-mentioned default disparity can be adisparity value corresponding to one depth value between the referenceview and the target view, which for example can be a disparity valuecorresponding to a depth value 128.

In order to further update the above-mentioned boundary range values, nomatter whether the update of the boundary range values in theabove-mentioned steps is successful or not, the following operation canbe repeatedly executed so as to update the boundary range values, sothat the reference rectangular block of pixels which is finallydetermined by the boundary range values corresponding to the pixels isas small as possible, thereby improving the accuracy rating of pictureencoding/decoding. As shown in FIG. 4, the operation comprises thefollowing steps:

step S402: updating the second coordinate to be a coordinate obtainedafter offsetting the current second coordinate by a third predeterminedoffset value, wherein the third predetermined offset value can bedetermined by a difference value between the horizontal component of thecoordinate of the first pixel and the horizontal component of theprojection coordinate of the pixel corresponding to the secondcoordinate in the target view;

step S404: determining a third projection coordinate of a pixelcorresponding to the current second coordinate in the target viewaccording to the depth information of the pixel corresponding to thecurrent second coordinate in the reference view; and

step S406: when a horizontal component of the third projectioncoordinate is less than or equal to the left boundary value in the firstset of boundary values, and the horizontal component of the currentsecond coordinate is greater than the left boundary range valuecorresponding to the current first pixel, updating the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the first pixel to be the horizontalcomponent of the current second coordinate.

The above-mentioned steps S402 to S406 can be repeatedly executed, thatis, the steps of updating the left boundary range value corresponding tothe first pixel can be repeatedly executed a predetermined number oftimes, so that the boundary range value corresponding to the pixel ismore accurate.

If the boundary range values of pixels on a plurality of boundaries needto be acquired at the same time, a serial mode or a parallel mode can beused. Accordingly, only one processing module needs to be provided ifthe serial mode is used; and accordingly, if the parallel mode is used,a plurality of modules for generating boundary range values need tocoexist in the system, and then a plurality of boundary pixels can beprocessed at the same time.

Updating the first set of boundary values according to the determinedone or more boundary range values as mentioned above may comprise:

updating the left boundary value in the first set of boundary values tobe a maximum value or a minimum value or a most median numerical valueof the one or more left boundary range values.

The description above is mainly based on the left boundary.Alternatively, the method for determining range values corresponding topixels on a right boundary is the same as the above-mentioned method fordetermining range values corresponding to pixels on a left boundary, andthe details are not described here again.

The methods for acquiring a predicted picture involved in theabove-mentioned alternative embodiments can be applied to the 3D pictureencoding/decoding techniques.

In the present embodiment, further provided is a device for generating apredicted picture, and the device is used for implementing theabove-mentioned embodiments and alternative embodiments, which have beendescribed and need not be described redundantly. As used below, terms“unit” or “module” is a combination of software and/or hardware whichcan implement a predetermined function. Although the device described inthe following embodiments is alternatively implemented with software,implementations using hardware or combinations of software and hardwareare also possible and can be conceived. FIG. 5 is a alternativestructure block diagram of a device for generating a predicted pictureaccording to the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG.5, the device comprises: a reference rectangular block of pixelsdetermination module 502, a projection module 504 and a predictedpicture acquisition module 506. The structure is described below.

1) the reference rectangular block of pixels determination module 502 isconfigured to determine a reference rectangular block of pixels byshifting or warping parameter information, wherein the parameterinformation comprises a location of a target rectangular block ofpixels, or the parameter information comprises a location of a targetrectangular block of pixels and depth information of a reference view;

2) the mapping module 504 is configured to forward project the referencerectangular block of pixels to a target view by means of the depthinformation of the reference view to obtain a projected rectangularblock of pixels; and

3) the predicted picture acquisition module 506 is configured to acquirea predicted picture from the projected rectangular block of pixels.

In one alternative embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the referencerectangular block of pixels determination module comprises: a firstdetermination unit 602, configured to determine a first set of boundaryvalues of the reference rectangular block of pixels according to thelocation of the target rectangular block of pixels when the parameterinformation comprises the location of the target rectangular block ofpixels and the depth information of the reference view; an update unit604, configured to update the first set of boundary values according tothe depth information of the reference view, and taking results obtainedafter the update as a second set of boundary values of the referencerectangular block of pixels, wherein the area of the referencerectangular block of pixels corresponding to the second set of boundaryvalues is no larger than the area of the reference rectangular block ofpixels corresponding to the first set of boundary values; and a seconddetermination unit 606, configured to determine the referencerectangular block of pixels in the reference view according to thesecond set of boundary values.

In one alternative embodiment, the first determination unit comprises: aleft boundary value determination sub-unit, configured to take a valuewhich is obtained after subtracting a third predetermined offset valuefrom the left boundary value of the target rectangular block of pixelsas a left boundary value in the first set of boundary values of thereference rectangular block of pixels; a right boundary valuedetermination sub-unit, configured to take a value which is obtainedafter subtracting a fourth predetermined offset value from the rightboundary value of the target rectangular block of pixels as a rightboundary value in the first set of boundary values of the referencerectangular block of pixels; an upper boundary value determinationsub-unit, configured to take the upper boundary value of the targetrectangular block of pixels as an upper boundary value of the first setof boundary values; and a lower boundary value determination sub-unit,configured to take the lower boundary value of the target rectangularblock of pixels as a lower boundary value of the first set of boundaryvalues.

In one alternative embodiment, the update unit comprises: a boundaryrange value determination sub-unit, configured to determine one or moreboundary range values according to location information of one or morepixels on boundaries of the target rectangular block of pixels and thedepth information of the reference view, wherein the boundary rangevalues comprise left boundary range values and/or right boundary rangevalues; and an update sub-unit, configured to update the first set ofboundary values according to the determined one or more boundary rangevalues.

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages ofthe present invention more apparent, the present invention will befurther described in detail in combination with several specificembodiments below. However, it is noted that these alternativeembodiments are only intended to better describe the present invention,rather than to limit the present invention.

Firstly, several nouns that are possibly used in the followingembodiments are explained.

1) Calculating a projection coordinate according to a projectionrelationship: for example, there is now a pixel pA in a reference viewand a depth value corresponding to the pixel; in order to calculate aprojection coordinate ppA' of the pA in another target view, theprojection coordinate projected to the target view can be obtainedthrough calculation according to information such as the location of thepA in the space by utilizing location information of the pA in thereference view, depth information corresponding to the pA and cameraparameters of the two views (the reference view and the target view).The value of the projection coordinate is generally qualified, that is,the value of the projection coordinate can generally be expressed asintegral multiples of 1/t.

2) Depth value: a depth value corresponding to a pixel may represent thedistance between that point on an object in a physical spacecorresponding to the pixel and a camera, and may also represent aconverted intermediate parameter, such as a disparity value and a depthlevel of the pixel with respect to one view, etc.

The disparity value (or disparity) can generally be obtained throughconversion using the following formula:

$d = {{\frac{\frac{1}{z} - \frac{1}{z_{far}}}{\frac{1}{z_{near}} - \frac{1}{z_{far}}} \times 2^{bitdepth}{disp}} = {\frac{f\left( {t_{v} - t_{r}} \right)}{z} + \left( {c_{v} - c_{r}} \right)}}$

where disp represents the disparity, f represents a focal distance ofthe camera, z represents an actual distance between a pointcorresponding to the pixel in the picture and the camera, (t_(v)−t_(r))represents a translation relationship between two cameras (views), and(c_(v)−c_(r)) represents a difference value between the locations ofreference points of the two cameras (views).

The depth level can generally be obtained through conversion using thefollowing formula:

$d = {\frac{\frac{1}{z} - \frac{1}{z_{far}}}{\frac{1}{z_{near}} - \frac{1}{z_{far}}} \times 2^{bitdepth}}$

where d represents the depth level, z represents an actual distancebetween a point corresponding to the pixel in the picture and thecamera, z_(near) and z_(far) respectively represents the maximum andminimum values of z in the current picture, and bitdepth represents adata-bit width of the depth level.

For the two views (the reference view and the target view), the maximumvalue MaxDisparity and the minimum value MinDisparity of the disparityvalue are: a numerical range of the depth level of 0-255 is taken as anexample, MaxDisparity is the maximum value of all the disparity valuescorresponding to the depth levels of 0-255, and MinDisparity is theminimum value of all the disparity values corresponding to the depthlevels of 0-255.

2) Pixel: one pixel contains information such as its pixel value and acoordinate corresponding thereto.

3) Rectangular block of pixels: the coordinate value of a pixel at anupper left corner of an M*N sized rectangular block of pixels is (XTL,YTL), then the coordinate values of all the pixels in the rectangularblock of pixels can be represented as (XTL+i, YTL+j), with 0≤i<M and0≤j<N.

The location of a rectangular block of pixels can be determined by thelocations of the boundaries of four sides, i.e. upper, lower, left andright sides, of the rectangular block of pixels. The upper boundaryvalue of the rectangular block of pixels is a coordinate value in thevertical direction of a pixel at an uppermost side in the block, thelower boundary value of the rectangular block of pixels is a coordinatevalue in the vertical direction of a pixel at a lowermost side in theblock, the left boundary value of the rectangular block of pixels is acoordinate value in the horizontal direction of a pixel at a leftmostside in the block, and the right boundary value of the rectangular blockof pixels is a coordinate value in the horizontal direction of a pixelat a rightmost side in the block.

The description is provided below in combination with several specificembodiments:

Embodiment 1

In the present embodiment, provided is a block-based method forgenerating a predicted picture: determining a reference rectangularblock of pixels Br in a reference view by means of the location of atarget rectangular block of pixels Bt in a target view and depthinformation in the reference view, forward projecting Br to a targetview by utilizing the depth information of the reference view, andacquiring a predicted picture from a projected rectangular block ofpixels Bs which is obtained through projection.

In the above, at least one pixel which is projected to the target viewin Br falls within Bt.

The left boundary value of Br, BrLeft, is assigned to be a valueobtained after offsetting the left boundary of Bt, BtLeft, byShiftValueLeft, i.e. BrLeft=BtLeft−ShiftValueLeft; the right boundary ofBr, BrRight, is assigned to be a location obtained after offsetting theright boundary of Bt, BtRight, by ShiftValueRight, i.e.BrRight=BtRight−ShiftValueRight; and the upper boundary value of Br isassigned to be the upper boundary value of Bt, and the lower boundaryvalue of Br is assigned to be the lower boundary value of Bt.

After the boundary ranges of Br are determined, Br in the reference viewis forward projected to the target view by utilizing the depthinformation of the reference view, and a predicted picture is acquiredfrom the projected rectangular block of pixels Bs which is obtainedthrough projection, wherein the predicted picture is smaller than orequal to Bs, and

when the predicted picture is smaller than Bs, pixels at correspondinglocations are intercepted from Bs according to the location of thepredicted picture to form the predicted picture.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned variable ShiftValueLeft can be avalue such as 100, 200, 150.5, −100 and −200; and the above-mentionedvariable ShiftValueRight can also be a value such as 100, 200, 150.5,−100 and −200.

Embodiment 2

In the present embodiment, provided is a block-based method forgenerating a predicted picture: determining a reference rectangularblock of pixels Br in a reference view by means of the location of atarget rectangular block of pixels Bt in a target view and depthinformation in the reference view, forward projecting Br to a targetview by utilizing the depth information of the reference view, andacquiring a predicted picture from a projected rectangular block ofpixels Bs which is obtained through projection.

In the above, at least one pixel which is projected to the target viewin Br falls within Bt.

In the above, the left boundary value of Br, BrLeft, is assigned to be avalue obtained after offsetting the left boundary value of Bt byMaxDisparity; the right boundary value of Br, BrRight, is a valueobtained after offsetting the right boundary value of Bt byMinDisparity; and the upper boundary value of Br is assigned to be theupper boundary value of Bt, and the lower boundary value of Br isassigned to be the lower boundary value of Bt. Alternatively,MaxDisparity and MinDisparity are respectively the maximum disparityvalue and the minimum disparity value between the reference view and thetarget view.

The left boundary value of Br, BrLeft, is assigned to be a valueobtained after offsetting the left boundary of Bt, BtLeft, byMaxDisparity, i.e. BrLeft=BtLeft−MaxDisparity; the right boundary of Br,BrRight, is assigned to be a location obtained after offsetting theright boundary of Bt, BtRight, by MinDisparity, i.e.BrRight=BtRight−MinDisparity; and the upper boundary value of Br isassigned to be the upper boundary value of Bt, and the lower boundaryvalue of Br is assigned to be the lower boundary value of Bt.MaxDisparity and MinDisparity are respectively the maximum disparityvalue and the minimum disparity value between the reference view and thetarget view.

After the boundary ranges of Br are determined, Br in the reference viewis forward projected to the target view by utilizing the depthinformation of the reference view, and a predicted picture is acquiredfrom the projected rectangular block of pixels Bs which is obtainedthrough projection, wherein the predicted picture is smaller than orequal to Bs, and when the predicted picture is smaller than Bs, pixelsat corresponding locations are intercepted from Bs according to thelocation of the predicted picture to form the predicted picture.

Embodiment 3

In the present embodiment, provided is a block-based method forgenerating a predicted picture: determining a reference rectangularblock of pixels Br in a reference view by means of the location of atarget rectangular block of pixels Bt in a target view and depthinformation in the reference view, forward projecting Br to a targetview by utilizing the depth information of the reference view, andacquiring a predicted picture from a projected rectangular block ofpixels Bs which is obtained through projection.

The left boundary value of Br, BrLeft, is assigned to be a valueobtained after offsetting the left boundary of Bt, BtLeft, byMaxDisparity, i.e. BrLeft=BtLeft−MaxDisparity; the right boundary of Br,BrRight, is assigned to be a location obtained after offsetting theright boundary of Bt, BtRight, by MinDisparity, i.e.BrRight=BtRight−MinDisparity; and the upper boundary value of Br isassigned to be the upper boundary value of Bt, and the lower boundaryvalue of Br is assigned to be the lower boundary value of Bt.Alternatively, MaxDisparity and MinDisparity are respectively themaximum disparity value and the minimum disparity value between thereference view and the target view.

In the process of determining a reference rectangular block of pixels Brin a reference view by means of the location of a target rectangularblock of pixels Bt in a target view and depth information in thereference view, the following operations are performed on at least onepixel PBt of the pixels on the left and right boundaries of the targetrectangular block of pixels Bt:

-   -   1) Initialization: if PBt is located on the left boundary of Bt,        DirSign is assigned to be a negative number, for example,        DirSign=−1, and Bound is assigned to be the left boundary value        of the reference rectangular block of pixels Br, BrLeft, i.e.        Bound=BrLeft; otherwise, DirSign is assigned to be a positive        number, for example, DirSign=1, and Bound is assigned to be the        right boundary value of Br, BrRight, i.e. Bound=BrRight.    -   2) Initialization of Cr: the coordinate Cr is equal to a        coordinate obtained after offsetting the coordinate of PBt in        the horizontal direction by a default disparity, DefaultDisp,        wherein the coordinate value of PBt is denoted as (XPBt, YPBt)        and the coordinate value of Cr is denoted as (XCr, YCr), then        XCr=XPBt−DefaultDisp, YCr=YPBt, where the value of DefaultDisp        can be a disparity value corresponding to a depth value of 128        or other depth values between the reference view and the target        view.    -   Update of Bound: a projection coordinate Ct of PCr in the target        view is calculated according to a projection relationship by        combining a pixel PCr located at Cr with depth information        corresponding to PCr, that is, the coordinate value of Ct is        (XCt, YCt), and if the product of a horizontal coordinate        difference value between Ct and PBt and DirSign,        (XCt−XPBt)*DirSign≥0, then Bound is updated to be the horizontal        coordinate value of Cr, i.e. Bound=XCr. 3) The following steps        are repeated a non-negative integer number of times, that is,        the following steps may not be executed and may also be        repeatedly executed a predetermined number of times:    -   the update of Cr: Cr is updated to be a coordinate obtained        after offsetting Cr in the horizontal direction by ShiftDisp,        i.e. (XCr, YCr)=(XCr−ShiftDisp, YCr), wherein the value of        ShiftDisp is determined by a horizontal coordinate difference        value between Ct and PBt, for example, ShiftDisp=a*(XCt−XPBt)+b,        where both a and b are real numbers, the value of a may be 1,        −1, 0, 1.5, −1.5, etc.; and the value of b can be 1, −1, 0,        etc.;    -   the update of Bound: a projection coordinate Ct of PCr in the        target view is calculated according to a projection relationship        by combining a pixel PCr located at Cr with depth information        corresponding to PCr, i.e. the coordinate value of Ct is (XCt,        YCt), and if the product of a horizontal coordinate difference        value between Ct and PBt and DirSign, (XCt−XPBt)*DirSign≥0, then        Bound is updated to be the horizontal coordinate value of Cr,        i.e. Bound=XCr; the update of the boundaries of Br: after it is        judged that there is a pixel, which the above-mentioned        operations are executed for, on the left boundary of Bt, one        Bound value is selected from those corresponding to all the        pixels, which the above-mentioned operations are executed for,        to update BrLeft; alternatively, N Bound values obtained through        calculating pixels on the left boundary of Bt can be denoted as        Bound(i), with i=1, 2, . . . , N, then BrLeft=Maximum(Bound(1),        Bound(2), . . . , Bound(N)), or BrLeft=Minimum(Bound(1),        Bound(2), . . . , Bound(N)), or BrLeft=Median(Bound(1),        Bound(2), . . . , Bound(N));

if there is a pixel, which the above-mentioned operations are executedfor, on the right boundary of Bt, one Bound value is selected from thosecorresponding to all the pixels, which the above-mentioned operationsare executed for, to update BrRight; M Bound values obtained throughcalculating pixels on the right boundary of Bt can be denoted asBound(j), with j=1, 2, . . . , M, then BrRight=Maximum(Bound(1),Bound(2), . . . , Bound(M)), or BrRight=Minimum(Bound(1), Bound(2), . .. , Bound(M)), or BrRight=Median(Bound(1), Bound(2), . . . , Bound(M));

where the return value of function Maximum(x1, x2, . . . , xK) is amaximum value of these numbers x1 to xK, the return value of Minimum(x1,x2, . . . , xK) is a minimum value of these numbers x1 to xK, and thereturn value of Median(x1, x2, . . . , xK) is a numerical value which isthe most median of these numbers x1 to xK. BrLeft and BrRight arerespectively the left boundary value and right boundary value of thereference rectangular block of pixels Br.

After the boundary ranges of Br are determined, Br in the reference viewcan be forward projected to the target view by utilizing the depthinformation of the reference view, and a predicted picture is acquiredfrom the projected rectangular block of pixels Bs which is obtainedthrough projection, wherein the predicted picture is smaller than orequal to Bs, and when the predicted picture is smaller than Bs, pixelsat corresponding locations are intercepted from Bs according to thelocation of the predicted picture to form the predicted picture.

Embodiment 4

In the present embodiment, provided is block-based device for generatinga predicted picture, and as shown in FIG. 7, the device comprises areference rectangular block of pixels determination module, a mappingmodule and a predicted picture acquisition module. These modules aredescribed in detail below.

The reference rectangular block of pixels determination module, theinput of which is the location of the target rectangular block of pixelsBt in the target view, and depth information in the reference view, isconfigured to determine the reference rectangular block of pixels Br inthe reference view: the left boundary value of Br, BrLeft, is assignedto be a value obtained after offsetting the left boundary of Bt, BtLeft,by ShiftValueLeft, i.e. BrLeft=BtLeft−ShiftValueLeft; the right boundaryof Br, BrRight, is assigned to be a location obtained after offsettingthe right boundary of Bt, BtRight, by ShiftValueRight, i.e.BrRight=BtRight−ShiftValueRight; and the upper boundary value of Br isassigned to be the upper boundary value of Bt, and the lower boundaryvalue of Br is assigned to be the lower boundary value of Bt; output Brto the mapping module.

Alternatively, the above-mentioned variable ShiftValueLeft can be avalue such as 100, 200, 150.5, −100 and −200; and the above-mentionedvariable ShiftValueRight can also be a value such as 100, 200, 150.5,−100 and −200.

The mapping module, the input of which is the depth information of thereference view and the reference rectangular block of pixels Br from thereference rectangular block of pixels determination module, is configureto forward project Br to the target view by utilizing the depthinformation of the reference view, so as to obtain the projectedrectangular block of pixels Bs; and output Bs to the predicted pictureacquisition module.

The predicted picture acquisition module, the input of which is thelocation of the predicted picture and the projected rectangular block ofpixels Bs from the mapping module, is configured to acquire thepredicted picture from Bs according to the location of the predictedpicture, wherein the predicted picture is smaller than or equal to Bs,and when the predicted picture is smaller than Bs, pixels atcorresponding locations are intercepted from Bs according to thelocation of the predicted picture to form the predicted picture; andoutput the predicted picture.

Embodiment 5

In the present embodiment, provided is block-based device for generatinga predicted picture, wherein the device contains a reference rectangularblock of pixels determination module, a mapping module and a predictedpicture acquisition module:

The reference rectangular block of pixels determination module, theinput of which is the location of the target rectangular block of pixelsBt in the target view and depth information in the reference view, isconfigured to determine the reference rectangular block of pixels Br inthe reference view: the left boundary value of Br, BrLeft, is assignedto be a value obtained after offsetting the left boundary of Bt, BtLeft,by MaxDisparity, i.e. BrLeft=BtLeft−MaxDisparity; the right boundary ofBr, BrRight, is assigned to be a location obtained after offsetting theright boundary of Bt, BtRight, by MinDisparity, i.e.BrRight=BtRight-MinDisparity; and the upper boundary value of Br isassigned to be the upper boundary value of Bt, and the lower boundaryvalue of Br is assigned to be the lower boundary value of Bt.MaxDisparity and MinDisparity are respectively the maximum disparityvalue and the minimum disparity value between the reference view and thetarget view; output Br to the mapping module.

The mapping module, the input of which is the depth information of thereference view and the reference rectangular block of pixels Br from thereference rectangular block of pixels determination module, isconfigured to forward project Br to the target view by utilizing thedepth information of the reference view, so as to obtain the projectedrectangular block of pixels Bs; and output Bs to the predicted pictureacquisition module.

The predicted picture acquisition module, the input of which is thelocation of the predicted picture and the projected rectangular block ofpixels Bs from the mapping module, is configured to acquire thepredicted picture from Bs according to the location of the predictedpicture, wherein the predicted picture is smaller than or equal to Bs,and when the predicted picture is smaller than Bs, pixels atcorresponding locations are intercepted from Bs according to thelocation of the predicted picture to form the predicted picture; andoutput the predicted picture.

Embodiment 6

In the present embodiment, provided is block-based device for generatinga predicted picture, and as shown in FIG. 8, the device contains a Brinitialization module, an initialization module, a Cr initializationmodule, a Bound update module, a Cr update module, a Br boundary updatemodule, a mapping module and a predicted picture acquisition module.

The Br initialization module, the input of which is the location of thetarget rectangular block of pixels Bt in the target view and depthinformation in the reference view, is configured to determine thereference rectangular block of pixels Br in the reference view: the leftboundary value of Br, BrLeft, is assigned to be a value obtained afteroffsetting the left boundary of Bt, BtLeft, by MaxDisparity, i.e.BrLeft=BtLeft−MaxDisparity; the right boundary of Br, BrRight, isassigned to be a location obtained after offsetting the right boundaryof Bt, BtRight, by MinDisparity, i.e. BrRight=BtRight−MinDisparity; andthe upper boundary value of Br is assigned to be the upper boundaryvalue of Bt, and the lower boundary value of Br is assigned to be thelower boundary value of Bt; MaxDisparity and MinDisparity arerespectively the maximum disparity value and the minimum disparity valuebetween the reference view and the target view; output the location ofBr to the initialization module and the Br boundary update module.

For the initialization module, the input thereof is the pixel PBt andthe location of the reference rectangular block of pixels Br from the Brinitialization module. If PBt is located on the left boundary of Bt,DirSign is assigned to be a negative number, for example, DirSign=−1,and Bound0 is assigned to be the left boundary value, BrLeft, of thereference rectangular block of pixels Br, i.e. Bound0=BrLeft; otherwise,DirSign is assigned to be a positive number, for example, DirSign=1, andBound0 is assigned to be the right boundary value, BrRight, of Br, i.e.Bound0=BrRight. The initialization module is configured to output Bound0and DirSign to the Bound update module.

For the Cr initialization module, the input thereof is the pixel PBt andthe default disparity value DefaultDisp, wherein coordinate Cr0 is equalto a coordinate obtained after offsetting the coordinate of PBt in thehorizontal direction by DefaultDisp, the coordinate value of PBt isdenoted as (XPBt, YPBt) and the coordinate value of Cr0 is denoted as(XCr0,YCr0), then XCr0=XPBt−DefaultDisp, YCr0=YPBt, the value ofDefaultDisp can be a disparity value corresponding to a depth value of128 or other depth values between the reference view and the targetview. The Cr initialization module is configured to output Cr0 to theBound update module.

For the Bound update module, the input thereof is depth information ofthe reference view, the pixel PBt, a flag bit Init, the coordinate Cr0from the Cr initialization module, DirSign and Bound0 from theinitialization module, Bound1 from the Bound update module and thecoordinate Cr1 from the Cr update module, wherein the coordinate valueof Cr is (XCr,YCr) and the coordinate value of Cr1 is (XCr1,YCr1); whenInit is equal to 0, Bound is assigned to be Bound0 and Cr is assigned tobe Cr0, i.e. Bound=Bound0, XCr=XCr0, YCr=YCr0; otherwise, Bound isassigned to be Bound1 and Cr is assigned to be Cr1, i.e. Bound=Bound1,XCr=XCr1, YCr=YCr1. Init represents whether the present module hasreceived data from the initialization module and the Cr initializationmodule, if not received, Init is equal to 0, otherwise, Init is equal to1; the Bound update module is configured to calculate a projectioncoordinate Ct of PCr in the target view according to a projectionrelationship by combining a pixel PCr located at Cr with depthinformation corresponding to PCr, i.e. the coordinate value of Ct is(XCt, YCt), and if the product of a horizontal coordinate differencevalue between Ct and PBt and DirSign, (XCt−XPBt)*DirSign≥0, and Init=1,the product of a difference value between a horizontal coordinate valueof Cr and Bound and DirSign also satisfies (XCr−Bound)*DirSign<0, thenthe Bound update module is configured to update Bound to be thehorizontal coordinate value of Cr, i.e. Bound=XCr; the Bound updatemodule is configured to assign Bound1 to be Bound (i.e. Bound1=Bound)and output the assigned Bound1 to the Bound update module and the Brboundary update module, and assign Cr2 to be Cr (the coordinate value ofCr2 is (XCr2, YCr2)=(XCr, YCr)) and output assigned Cr2 to the Cr updatemodule, and output Ct to the Cr update module.

The Cr update module, the input of which is the pixel PBt, thecoordinate Cr2 and coordinate Ct from the Bound update module, isconfigured to update Cr1 to be a coordinate obtained after offsettingCr2 in the horizontal direction by ShiftDisp, i.e. (XCr1,YCr1)=(XCr2−ShiftDisp, YCr2), wherein the value of ShiftDisp isdetermined by a horizontal coordinate difference value between Ct andPBt, for example, ShiftDisp=a*(XCt−XPBt)+b, where both a and b are realnumbers, the value of a may be 1, −1, 0, 1.5, −1.5, etc.; and the valueof b can be 1, −1, 0, etc.; output Cr1 to the Bound update module.

For the Br boundary update module, the input thereof is Bound1 from theBound update module and the location of the reference rectangular blockof pixels Br from the Br initialization module. When the present modulehas received N values of Bound1, Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . . . ,Bound1(N), which are obtained through calculating the pixels on the leftboundary of Bt, then BrLeft=Maximum(Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . . . ,Bound1(N)), or BrLeft=Minimum(Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . . . , Bound1(N)),or BrLeft=Median(Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . . . , Bound1(N)); and when thepresent module has received M values of Bound, Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . .. , Bound1(M), which are obtained through calculating the pixels on theright boundary of Bt, then BrRight=Maximum(Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . . . ,Bound1(M)), or BrRight=Minimum(Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . . . , Bound1(M)),or BrRight=Median(Bound1(1), Bound1(2), . . . , Bound1(M)), wherein thereturn value of function Maximum(x1, x2, . . . , xK) is a maximum valueof these numbers from x1 to xK, the return value of Minimum(x1, x2, . .. , xK) is a minimum value of these numbers from x1 to xK, and thereturn value of Median(x1, x2, . . . , xK) is a median value of thesenumbers from x1 to xK; and the Br boundary update module is configuredto output Br to the mapping module.

The mapping module, the input of which is the depth information in thereference view and the reference rectangular block of pixels Br from theBr boundary update module, is configured to forward project Br to thetarget view by utilizing the depth information of the reference view soas to obtain the projected rectangular block of pixels Bs; and output Bsto the predicted picture acquisition module.

The predicted picture acquisition module, the input of which is thelocation of the predicted picture and the projected rectangular block ofpixels Bs from the mapping module, is configured to acquire thepredicted picture from Bs according to the location of the predictedpicture, wherein the predicted picture is smaller than or equal to Bs,and when the predicted picture is smaller than Bs, pixels atcorresponding locations are intercepted from Bs according to thelocation of the predicted picture to form the predicted picture; andoutput the predicted picture.

Embodiment 7

In the present embodiment, provided is block-based device for generatinga predicted picture, by means of which device Bounds corresponding to aplurality of pixels can be generated in parallel, and as shown in FIG.10, the device comprises a Br initialization module, a Bound calculationmodule, a Br boundary update module, a mapping module and a predictedpicture acquisition module. The Bound update module (as shown in FIG. 9)comprises submodules such as an initialization module, a Crinitialization module, a Bound update module and a Cr update module.

The Bound update module, the input of which is the pixel PBt and thelocation of the reference rectangular block of pixels Br from the Brinitialization module, is configured to output Bound1 to the Br boundaryupdate module.

For the initialization module, the input thereof is the pixel PBt andthe location of the reference rectangular block of pixels Br. If PBt islocated on the left boundary of Bt, DirSign is assigned to be a negativenumber, for example, DirSign=−1, and Bound0 is assigned to be the leftboundary value, BrLeft, of the reference rectangular block of pixels Br,i.e. Bound0=BrLeft; otherwise, DirSign is assigned to be a positivenumber, for example, DirSign=1, and Bound0 is assigned to be the rightboundary value, BrRight, of Br, i.e. Bound0=BrRight; the initializationmodule is configured to output Bound0 and DirSign to the Bound updatemodule.

For the Cr initialization module, the input thereof is the pixel PBt andthe default disparity value DefaultDisp, wherein coordinate Cr0 is equalto a coordinate obtained after offsetting the coordinate of PBt in thehorizontal direction by DefaultDisp, the coordinate value of PBt isdenoted as (XPBt, YPBt) and the coordinate value of Cr0 is denoted as(XCr0,YCr0), then XCr0=XPBt−DefaultDisp, YCr0=YPBt, the value ofDefaultDisp can be a disparity value corresponding to a depth value of128 or other depth values between the reference view and the targetview. The Cr initialization module is configured to output Cr0 to theBound update module.

For the Bound update module, the input thereof is depth information ofthe reference view, the pixel PBt, a flag bit Init, the coordinate Cr0from the Cr initialization module, DirSign and Bound0 from theinitialization module, Bound1 from the Bound update module and thecoordinate Cr1 from the Cr update module, wherein the coordinate valueof Cr is (XCr,YCr) and the coordinate value of Cr1 is (XCr1,YCr1); whenInit is equal to 0, Bound is assigned to be Bound0 and Cr is assigned tobe Cr0, i.e. Bound=Bound0, XCr=XCr0, YCr=YCr0; otherwise, Bound isassigned to be Bound1 and Cr is assigned to be Cr1, i.e. Bound=Bound1,XCr=XCr1, YCr=YCr1. Init represents whether the present module hasreceived data from the initialization module and the Cr initializationmodule, if not received, Init is equal to 0, otherwise, Init is equal to1; the Bound update module is configured to calculate a projectioncoordinate Ct of PCr in the target view according to a projectionrelationship by combining a pixel PCr located at Cr with depthinformation corresponding to PCr, the coordinate value of Ct is (XCt,YCt), and if the product of a horizontal coordinate difference valuebetween Ct and PBt and DirSign, (XCt−XPBt)*DirSign≥0, and Init=1, theproduct of a difference value between a horizontal coordinate value ofCr and Bound and DirSign also satisfies (XCr−Bound)*DirSign<0, thenupdate Bound to be the horizontal coordinate value of Cr, i.e.Bound=XCr; assign Bound1 to be Bound (i.e. Bound1=Bound) and output theassigned Bound1 to the Bound update module and the Br boundary updatemodule, and assign Cr2 to be Cr (the coordinate value of Cr2 is (XCr2,YCr2)=(XCr, YCr)) and output assigned Cr2 to the Cr update module, andoutput Ct to the Cr update module.

The Cr update module, the input of which is the pixel PBt, thecoordinate Cr2 and coordinate Ct from the Bound update module, isconfigured to update Cr1 to be a coordinate obtained after offsettingCr2 in the horizontal direction by ShiftDisp, i.e. (XCr1,YCr1)=(XCr2−ShiftDisp, YCr2), wherein the value of ShiftDisp isdetermined by a horizontal coordinate difference value between Ct andPBt, for example, ShiftDisp=a*(XCt−XPBt)+b, both a and b are realnumbers, the value of a may be 1, −1, 0, 1.5, −1.5, etc.; and the valueof b can be 1, −1, 0, etc.; output Cr1 to the Bound update module.

The Br initialization module, the input of which is the location of thetarget rectangular block of pixels Bt in the target view and depthinformation in the reference view, is configured to determine thereference rectangular block of pixels Br in the reference view: the leftboundary value, BrLeft, of Br is assigned to be a value obtained afteroffsetting the left boundary, BtLeft, of Bt by MaxDisparity, i.e.BrLeft=BtLeft−MaxDisparity; the right boundary, BrRight, of Br isassigned to be a location obtained after offsetting the right boundary,BtRight, of Bt by MinDisparity, i.e. BrRight=BtRight−MinDisparity; andthe upper boundary value of Br is assigned to be the upper boundaryvalue of Bt, and the lower boundary value of Br is assigned to be thelower boundary value of Bt; MaxDisparity and MinDisparity arerespectively the maximum disparity value and the minimum disparity valuebetween the reference view and the target view; output the location ofBr to the Bound calculation module and the Br boundary update module.

For the Br boundary update module, the input thereof is Bound(1) toBound(L) from the Bound update module and the location of the referencerectangular block of pixels Br from the Br initialization module. Whenthe present module has received N values of Bound1, Bound1(1), Bound(2),. . . , Bound(N), which are obtained through calculating the pixels onthe left boundary of Bt, then BrLeft=Maximum(Bound(1), Bound(2), . . . ,Bound(N)), or BrLeft=Minimum(Bound(1), Bound(2), . . . , Bound(N)), orBrLeft=Median(Bound(1), Bound(2), . . . , Bound(N)); and when thepresent module has received M values of Bound, Bound(1), Bound(2), . . ., Bound(M), which are obtained through calculating the pixels on theright boundary of Bt, then BrRight=Maximum(Bound(1), Bound(2), . . . ,Bound(M)), or BrRight=Minimum(Bound(1), Bound(2), . . . , Bound(M)), orBrRight=Median(Bound(1), Bound(2), . . . , Bound(M)), where N+M=L; wherethe return value of function Maximum(x1, x2, . . . , xK) is a maximumvalue of these numbers from x1 to xK, the return value of Minimum(x1,x2, . . . , xK) is a minimum value of these numbers from x1 to xK, andthe return value of Median(x1, x2, . . . , xK) is a median value ofthese numbers from x1 to xK; and output Br to the mapping module.

The mapping module, the input of which is the depth information of thereference view and the reference rectangular block of pixels Br from theBr boundary update module, is configured to forward project Br to thetarget view by utilizing the depth information of the reference view soas to obtain the projected rectangular block of pixels Bs; and output Bsto the predicted picture acquisition module.

The predicted picture acquisition module, the input of which is thelocation of the predicted picture and the projected rectangular block ofpixels Bs from the mapping module, is configured to acquire thepredicted picture from Bs according to the location of the predictedpicture, wherein the predicted picture is smaller than or equal to Bs,and when the predicted picture is smaller than Bs, pixels atcorresponding locations are intercepted from Bs according to thelocation of the predicted picture to form the predicted picture; andoutput the predicted picture.

Embodiment 8

In the present embodiment, provided is media content, wherein theprocess for the media content to generate a picture can be implementedby means of any one of the block-based methods for generating apredicted picture in embodiments 1-3.

In the above-mentioned alternative embodiments, the predicted picturemay also generate a new predicted picture through processing methodssuch as downsampling and sub-pixel interpolation.

In another embodiment, also provided is a software, wherein the softwareis configured to execute the technical solutions described in theabove-mentioned embodiments and alternative embodiments.

In another embodiment, also provided is a storage medium, wherein thestorage medium stores the above-mentioned software, and the storagemedium comprises, but is not limited to: a compact disc, a floppy disk,a hard disk, an erasable memory, etc.

From the above description, it can be seen that the embodiments ofpresent invention achieves the following technical effects: proposed isa new method for generating a predicted picture, and when a referencerectangular block of pixels is generated, only the location of a targetrectangular block of pixels and/or depth information of a reference viewand/or camera parameters of a target view need to be used, withoutneeding to determine the reference rectangular block of pixels by meansof a depth picture of the target view; and during forward projection,the determination is made by means of the depth information of thereference view, without needing to know the depth picture of the targetview in the entire process. By means of the above-mentioned method, thetechnical problem that the dependence on data is relative large causedby the reason that a depth picture of a target view and a depth pictureof a reference view need to be used at the same time during the processof generating the predicted picture in the prior art is solved, and thetechnical effects of reducing the dependence on data and improving theencoding and decoding efficiency are achieved.

Obviously, those skilled in the art should know that each of thementioned modules or steps of the present invention can be realized byuniversal computing devices; the modules or steps can be focused onsingle computing device, or distributed on the network formed bymultiple computing devices; selectively, they can be realized by theprogram codes which can be executed by the computing device; thereby,the modules or steps can be stored in the storage device and executed bythe computing device; and under some circumstances, the shown ordescribed steps can be executed in different orders, or can beindependently manufactured as each integrated circuit module, ormultiple modules or steps thereof can be manufactured to be singleintegrated circuit module, thus to be realized. In this way, the presentinvention is not restricted to any particular hardware and softwarecombination.

The descriptions above are only the preferable embodiment of the presentinvention, which are not used to restrict the present invention, forthose skilled in the art, the present invention may have various changesand variations. Any amendments, equivalent substitutions, improvements,etc. within the principle of the present invention are all included inthe scope of the protection of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for generating a predicted picture,comprising: determining a reference rectangular block of pixels byshifting or warping parameter information, wherein the parameterinformation comprises a location of a target rectangular block ofpixels, or the parameter information comprises a location of a targetrectangular block of pixels and depth information of a reference view;mapping the reference rectangular block of pixels to a target view bymeans of the depth information of the reference view to obtain aprojected rectangular block of pixels; and acquiring a predicted pictureblock from the projected rectangular block of pixels; wherein, when theparameter information comprises the location of the target rectangularblock of pixels and the depth information of the reference view,determining the reference rectangular block of pixels by shifting orwarping the parameter information comprises: determining a first set ofboundary values of the reference rectangular block of pixels accordingto the location of the target rectangular block of pixels; updating thefirst set of boundary values according to the depth information of thereference view, and taking results obtained after the update as a secondset of boundary values of the reference rectangular block of pixels,wherein the area of the reference rectangular block of pixelscorresponding to the second set of boundary values is no larger than thearea of the reference rectangular block of pixels corresponding to thefirst set of boundary values; and determining the reference rectangularblock of pixels in the reference view according to the second set ofboundary values; wherein determining a first set of boundary values ofthe reference rectangular block of pixels according to the location ofthe target rectangular block of pixels comprises: taking a value whichis obtained after subtracting a third predetermined offset value fromthe left boundary value of the target rectangular block of pixels as aleft boundary value in the first set of boundary values of the referencerectangular block of pixels; taking a value which is obtained aftersubtracting a fourth predetermined offset value from the right boundaryvalue of the target rectangular block of pixels as a right boundaryvalue in the first set of boundary values of the reference rectangularblock of pixels; taking the upper boundary value of the targetrectangular block of pixels as an upper boundary value of the first setof boundary values; and taking the lower boundary value of the targetrectangular block of pixels as a lower boundary value of the first setof boundary values.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein thedepth information of the reference view comprises at least one of thefollowing: depth pictures of the reference view and camera parameters ofthe reference view.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein aforward projection is used in the process of mapping the referencerectangular block of pixels to a target view by means of the depthinformation of the reference view.
 4. The method according to claim 1,wherein, when the parameter information comprises the location of thetarget rectangular block of pixels, determining the referencerectangular block of pixels by shifting or warping the parameterinformation comprises: taking a value which is obtained aftersubtracting a first predetermined offset value from a left boundaryvalue of the target rectangular block of pixels as a left boundary valueof the reference rectangular block of pixels; taking a value which isobtained after subtracting a second predetermined offset value from aright boundary value of the target rectangular block of pixels as aright boundary value of the reference rectangular block of pixels;taking an upper boundary value of the target rectangular block of pixelsas an upper boundary value of the reference rectangular block of pixels;taking a lower boundary value of the target rectangular block of pixelsas a lower boundary value of the reference rectangular block of pixels;and taking the determined left boundary value, right boundary value,upper boundary value and lower boundary value of the referencerectangular block of pixels as boundary information of the referencerectangular block of pixels, so as to determine the referencerectangular block of pixels in the reference view.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein updating the first set of boundary valuesaccording to the depth information of the reference view comprises:determining one or more boundary range values according to locationinformation of one or more pixels on boundaries of the targetrectangular block of pixels and the depth information of the referenceview, wherein the boundary range values comprise left boundary rangevalues and/or right boundary range values; and updating the first set ofboundary values according to the determined one or more boundary rangevalues.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the steps ofdetermining one or more left boundary range values according to thelocation information of one or more pixels on the boundaries of thetarget rectangular block of pixels and the depth information of thereference view comprise: selecting one pixel on the left boundary of thetarget rectangular block of pixels as a first pixel; taking the leftboundary value in the first set of boundary values as the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the first pixel; taking a first coordinateobtained after offsetting the coordinate of the first pixel by onedefault disparity as a second coordinate in the reference view;determining a first projection coordinate of a pixel corresponding tothe second coordinate in the target view according to depth informationof a pixel corresponding to the second coordinate in the reference view;and when a horizontal component of the first projection coordinate isless than or equal to the left boundary value in the first set ofboundary values, updating the left boundary range value corresponding tothe first pixel to be a horizontal component of the second coordinate;and/or determining one or more right boundary range values according tothe location information of one or more pixels on the boundaries of thetarget rectangular block of pixels and the depth information of thereference view comprises: selecting one pixel on the right boundary ofthe target rectangular block of pixels as a second pixel; taking theright boundary value in the first set of boundary values as the rightboundary range value corresponding to the second pixel; taking a thirdcoordinate obtained after offsetting the coordinate of the second pixelby one default disparity as a fourth coordinate in the reference view;determining a second projection coordinate of a pixel corresponding tothe fourth coordinate in the target view according to depth informationof a pixel corresponding to the fourth coordinate in the reference view;and when a horizontal component of the second projection coordinate isgreater than or equal to the right boundary value in the first set ofboundary values, updating the right boundary range value correspondingto the second pixel to be a horizontal component of the fourthcoordinate.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, when it isjudged that the condition that the horizontal component of the firstprojection coordinate is less than or equal to the left boundary valuein the first set of boundary values is not satisfied, or after the leftboundary range value corresponding to the first pixel is updated to bethe horizontal component of the second coordinate, the method furthercomprises: updating the left boundary range value corresponding to thefirst pixel; and/or when it is judged that the condition that thehorizontal component of the second projection coordinate is greater thanor equal to the right boundary value in the first set of boundary valuesis not satisfied, or after the right boundary range value correspondingto the second pixel is updated to be the horizontal component of thefourth coordinate, the method further comprises: updating the rightboundary range value corresponding to the second pixel.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 7, wherein updating the left boundary range valuecorresponding to the first pixel comprises: updating the secondcoordinate to be a coordinate obtained after offsetting the currentsecond coordinate by a fifth predetermined offset value; determining athird projection coordinate of the pixel corresponding to the currentsecond coordinate in the target view according to the depth informationof the pixel corresponding to the current second coordinate in thereference view; and when a horizontal component of the third projectioncoordinate is less than or equal to the left boundary value in the firstset of boundary values, and the horizontal component of the currentsecond coordinate is greater than the left boundary range valuecorresponding to the current first pixel, updating the left boundaryrange value corresponding to the first pixel to be the horizontalcomponent of the current second coordinate; and/or updating the rightboundary range value corresponding to the second pixel comprises:updating the fourth coordinate to be a coordinate obtained afteroffsetting the current fourth coordinate by a sixth predetermined offsetvalue; determining a fourth projection coordinate of the pixelcorresponding to the current fourth coordinate in the target viewaccording to the depth information of the pixel corresponding to thecurrent fourth coordinate in the reference view; and when a horizontalcomponent of the fourth projection coordinate is greater than or equalto the right boundary value in the first set of boundary values, and thehorizontal component of the current fourth coordinate is greater thanthe right boundary range value corresponding to the second pixel,updating the right boundary range value corresponding to the secondpixel to be the horizontal component of the current fourth coordinate.9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the step of updating theleft boundary range value corresponding to the first pixel is repeatedlyexecuted a predetermined number of times, and/or the step of updatingthe left boundary range value corresponding to the second pixel isrepeatedly executed a predetermined number of times.
 10. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the fifth predetermined offset value isdetermined by a difference value between the horizontal component of thecoordinate of the first pixel and the horizontal component of theprojection coordinate of the pixel corresponding to the secondcoordinate in the target view, and/or the sixth predetermined offsetvalue is determined by a difference value between the horizontalcomponent of the coordinate of the second pixel and the horizontalcomponent of the projection coordinate of the pixel corresponding to thesecond coordinate in the target view.
 11. The method according to claim6, wherein determining a plurality of left boundary range valuesaccording to the location information of one or more pixels on theboundaries of the target rectangular block of pixels and the depthinformation of the reference view comprises: determining, in a parallelmode, the plurality of left boundary range values according to thelocation information of the one or more pixels on the boundaries of thetarget rectangular block of pixels and the depth information of thereference view; and/or determining a plurality of right boundary rangevalues according to the location information of one or more pixels onthe boundaries of the target rectangular block of pixels and the depthinformation of the reference view comprises: determining, in a parallelmode, the plurality of right boundary range values according to thelocation information of the one or more pixels on the boundaries of thetarget rectangular block of pixels and the depth information of thereference view.
 12. A device for generating a predicted picture,comprising: a reference rectangular block of pixels determinationmodule, configured to determine a reference rectangular block of pixelsby shifting or warping a parameter information, wherein the parameterinformation comprises a location of a target rectangular block ofpixels, or the parameter information comprises a location of a targetrectangular block of pixels and depth information of a reference view; amapping module, configured to map the reference rectangular block ofpixels to a target view by means of the depth information of thereference view to obtain a projected rectangular block of pixels; and apredicted picture acquisition module, configured to acquire a predictedpicture block from the projected rectangular block of pixels; whereinthe reference rectangular block of pixels determination modulecomprises: a first determination unit, configured to determine a firstset of boundary values of the reference rectangular block of pixels byshifting or warping the location of the target rectangular block ofpixels when the parameter information comprises the location of thetarget rectangular block of pixels and the depth information of thereference view; an update unit, configured to update the first set ofboundary values according to the depth information of the referenceview, and take results obtained after the update as a second set ofboundary values of the reference rectangular block of pixels, whereinthe area of the reference rectangular block of pixels corresponding tothe second set of boundary values is no larger than the area of thereference rectangular block of pixels corresponding to the first set ofboundary values; and a second determination unit, configured todetermine the reference rectangular block of pixels in the referenceview according to the second set of boundary values; wherein the firstdetermination unit comprises: a left boundary value determinationsub-unit, configured to take a value which is obtained after subtractinga third predetermined offset value from the left boundary value of thetarget rectangular block of pixels as a left boundary value in the firstset of boundary values of the reference rectangular block of pixels; aright boundary value determination sub-unit, configured to take a valuewhich is obtained after subtracting a fourth predetermined offset valuefrom the right boundary value of the target rectangular block of pixelsas a right boundary value in the first set of boundary values of thereference rectangular block of pixels; an upper boundary valuedetermination sub-unit, configured to take the upper boundary value ofthe target rectangular block of pixels as an upper boundary value of thefirst set of boundary values; and a lower boundary value determinationsub-unit, configured to take the lower boundary value of the targetrectangular block of pixels as a lower boundary value of the first setof boundary values.
 13. The device according to claim 12, wherein thedepth information of the reference view comprises at least one of thefollowing: depth pictures of the reference view and camera parameters ofthe reference view.
 14. The device according to claim 12, wherein aforward projection is used in the process in which the mapping modulemaps the reference rectangular block of pixels to a target view by meansof the depth information of the reference view.
 15. The device accordingto claim 12, wherein the update unit comprises: a boundary range valuedetermination sub-unit, configured to determine one or more boundaryrange values according to location information of one or more pixels onboundaries of the target rectangular block of pixels and the depthinformation of the reference view, wherein the boundary range valuescomprise left boundary range values and/or right boundary range values;and an update sub-unit, configured to update the first set of boundaryvalues according to the determined one or more boundary range values.16. The device according to claim 15, wherein the boundary range valuedetermination sub-unit is further configured to determine one or moreleft boundary range values in the following way: selecting one pixel onthe left boundary of the target rectangular block of pixels as a firstpixel; taking the left boundary value in the first set of boundaryvalues as the left boundary range value corresponding to the firstpixel; taking a first coordinate obtained after offsetting thecoordinate of the first pixel by one default disparity as a secondcoordinate in the reference view; determining a first projectioncoordinate of a pixel corresponding to the second coordinate in thetarget view according to depth information of a pixel corresponding tothe second coordinate in the reference view; and when a horizontalcomponent of the first projection coordinate is less than or equal tothe left boundary value in the first set of boundary values, updatingthe left boundary range value corresponding to the first pixel to be ahorizontal component of the second coordinate; and/or the boundary rangevalue determination sub-unit is further configured to determine one ormore right boundary range values in the following way: selecting onepixel on the right boundary of the target rectangular block of pixels asa second pixel; taking the right boundary value in the first set ofboundary values as the right boundary range value corresponding to thesecond pixel; taking a third coordinate obtained after offsetting thecoordinate of the second pixel by one default disparity as a fourthcoordinate in the reference view; determining a second projectioncoordinate of a pixel corresponding to the fourth coordinate in thetarget view according to depth information of a pixel corresponding tothe fourth coordinate in the reference view; and when a horizontalcomponent of the second projection coordinate is greater than or equalto the right boundary value in the first set of boundary values,updating the right boundary range value corresponding to the secondpixel to be a horizontal component of the fourth coordinate.